Happy Birthday, Minna!
by applechan53
Summary: This is a three-part story that covers Canada's, Hong Kong's, and America's birthdays. It's rated T because I mention alcohol and may later have some references to France's... France-ness. But mostly I'm just paranoid like the rest of you.
1. Canada

Canada sighed quietly and tapped his fingers on the long mahogany meeting table, where yet another World Meeting was taking place. Thankfully, Kuma… Kuma… Kumajiki? Thankfully, his bear was the only thing sitting on him today, which must have been a bit of luck for him. Not that Canada felt very lucky on that day. No, not when even… Bear couldn't seem remember him for more than five seconds.

Normally, none of this would have fazed the large country in the slightest, but today was no ordinary day. Today was July 1st, also known as Canada Day, or, to people who knew about personifications, his birthday. But everyone at the meeting was hyped up for something else: America's giant birthday party, the one he held every single year without fail. Even the hyper country's enemies would get excited about the event, since the American's one and only rule was that no one was allowed to act like a country for even a minute on that day; no matter what was going on in their home. Everyone loved the idea of acting human for a day, so his parties always had an amazing reputation.

Of course, in comparison to an event so huge and anticipated, along with the fact that Hong Kong's birthday, complete with fireworks and a giant cake, fell on the same day, Canada's little house party was rarely enough to make it onto any country's calendar. Last year, his 145 birthday, not even France had shown up, since it was Hong Kong's 15th hand-over anniversary, and it would seem that 15 is a more important age to reach than 145.

Canada understood the dilemma, he really did, and he usually had no problem spending his birthday alone if it would make it easier for others to choose what they wanted to do, but this year, for some reason, he was feeling lonelier than usual, and wanted people around to reassure him he wasn't completely alone and forgotten. Unfortunately, he knew that there would be no such reassurance, since he was, apparently, alone and forgotten, and even if he _had _been able to say anything, he doubted it would have changed that fact.

_Oh, here we go, _he thought to himself, watching Hong Kong stand up and invite everyone to his party, like he did every year, then everyone nod their consent and wish him a happy birthday, like they did every year. No one so much as looked in his direction. _Another year alone it is, _he thought glumly.

On his way out the door, he managed to capture the notice of Hong Kong. "H-hello," he whispered in his usual tone, "H-happy birthday."

"Oh…" Hong Kong mumbled, in his monotone way, "Thank you-"

"Canada," the blonde graciously replied.

"Right. Thank you, Canada," he restated, "Will you be at my party tonight?"

Canada laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I can't. I'm… very busy right now. But I'm sure I'll be missing an amazing time. Anyway…" He dug around in the tote bag he brought especially for this occasion, "here's your present." He handed Hong Kong a large wrapped box. Inside was a fireworks lamp he had searched all over E-bay for, since he'd heard something about Hong Kong's fear of the dark, and thought it would both help with the problem and be a nice decoration in his room.

"Thanks," Hong Kong mumbled, taking the box.

"I hope this will make up for my absence at your party tonight," Canada said.

"Yes, definitely… hey, will I see you at America's party on the fourth?" he asked.

The blonde chuckled. "Most likely, considering he's my brother and would never let me miss it for anything." That, and people seemed to notice him a little more when they didn't have to act like countries.

"Really? I didn't know America had a brother… well, have a good day. I'll see you on the fourth," Hong Kong said, effectively ending the conversation.

"… if you still remember me by then," Canada whispered to himself as the brunette walked away...

Later that night, at his own house, Canada sat in front of a blazing fireplace, warming his toes from their trip outside to cut more firewood. As much as he loved the wonders of modern heating and cooling, nothing could beat a crackling fire in his book. On one side of him laid Kumajirou, sleeping soundly after a nice fish feast. On the other were around twenty giant bottles of maple syrup, a few large stacks of pancakes, and a huge bowl of punch. It was already 9:30 pm at his house, which meant that in Hong Kong it was already 9:30 am tomorrow.

It wasn't like he'd expected anyone to come. I mean, Canada Day _was _a pretty big holiday, and people in a lot of different places celebrated it, but it wasn't like his fireworks displays could compare to Hong Kong's.

But that didn't matter! He was the second largest country in the world! He should have been more than capable of having fun on his own! But it was July, so there was no snow on the ground, it was getting late, so he couldn't go out and do anything, and he didn't really have anything much to do inside house, since most of the time he was either working, out and about, or making pancakes, which he had already done. Okay, so he couldn't have fun on his own.

"I wonder how things were at Hong Kong's party…" he mumbled to himself, relaxing into the love seat he was sharing with his pet. _I bet they're all passed out right about now, _he thought, _Germany, England, Prussia, Denmark, and Russia probably didn't even make it back to the hotel…_

Sighing, he settled deeper into the fluffy folds of the couch, picked up a plate, pancake, and some maple syrup, and started eating. No reason for him to starve just because no one wanted to come visit him on his birthday…

"Hey! You seriously started eating already?!" an obnoxious voice called from the other side of the room. Canada, who had just about finished off the pancake already, jumped right out of his seat.

"A-America!" he whisper-screamed, "Wh-what are you doing here? How did you get in?!"

America laughed, "You leave your door unlocked, remember? That's really not very smart. Anybody could get in here!"

"It doesn't matter. Nobody even remembers I'm here half the time, so there's really no point in locking it. Not even animals come near here," Canada replied quietly.

America sighed. "Dude, you're seriously way too trusting of the human race! Anyway, we can talk about that later. For now, let's pack up these pancakes and maple syrup! I'm happy you made them, though; otherwise I would have had to ask Belgium to make us some waffles, and Netherlands would have charged me way too much for them!"

"B-Belgium? Netherlands? Why would they-" Canada began.

"Let's just find some boxes for all this. Dude, how do you have so much maple syrup just lying around? Seriously, all that sticky stuff in your living room isn't even scratching the surface! Even your flag…" America interrupted.

"I like it; is there a problem with that?" Canada muttered, taking the heavy box America thrust into his hands, and almost collapsing under its weight. "How can you carry things like this so easily?" he asked, but it was no use; America was still babbling about the northern country's obsession with maple syrup.

Finally, America finished packing all the food and the whirlwind of sound left the house. Unfortunately, Canada ended up swept right along with it. "Where are you taking me, America?" he asked, staring at the giant trees ahead of him. "There's nothing out there but dead trees!"

"Just wait and see, dude, just wait and see," came the American's vague response.

A few minutes later, America stopped, took the boxes from Canada's hands, set them down, and pulled out a long, thick, black piece of fabric. "Okay, dude, hold on…" he tied the fabric around Canada's violet eyes, glasses and all. "Now for these…" Canada heard him grunt a little as he picked up all the boxes in one hand, then felt him grab his own hand with the other. Slowly, the southern country led his brother through the longest stretch of the woods…

From a fourth of a mile away, Canada could hear the music. The bass vibrated heavily, but didn't give off the impression that it was heavy music being played. It more sounded like light, soft music being played at an insane volume. "America, what's that sou-"

"What sound? I don't hear anything!" America replied much too quickly.

"Okay…" Canada mumbled. He hoped he wasn't going crazy…

The sound of music continued to grow louder and louder, until Canada was sure that either a) America was lying and he could hear the music, or b) he had officially lost it and his head was about to blow up.

Just as he was about to convince himself that "b" was the correct answer and he was about to face his death, America stopped, dropped his hand, and told him to wait there. Confused, Canada shifted from foot to foot waiting for America to come back. It took about fifteen minutes, or so he estimated, but finally he heard his brother's footsteps crunching over leaves again..

"Okay, dude, come with me," America exclaimed, practically dragging Canada closer to the music. A few hundred yards later, he stopped again. At this point, the shy nation was seriously starting to wonder if America had taken him to the middle of the woods for an impromptu "camping trip". It had happened before. But the second America untied the black fabric from his eyes, he knew that wasn't the case. The giant field, usually dull and dead, now held an abundance of color and life.

A mix of multicolored and white lights hung from every available surface, tables upon tables of interesting foreign food stretched on and on into the distance, Canadian music blasted out of a few gigantic amps that, had they been one of America's burgers, would have been triple-super-sized compared to normal, and a portable wooden bar housed hundreds of liquors to suit every taste. The only thing missing, it seemed, was the people.

The party seemed like it could feed thousands and still have plenty of leftovers, and yet not a soul was there besides America and himself. "America…" the colder country asked, "you aren't planning on eating all this by yourself, are you?" Canada had plenty of faith in his brother's eating skills, but this was just too much for two people to eat on their own; even if one of them regularly ate fifty hamburgers for breakfast.

Thankfully, America only laughed. "No, Mattie, I'm not," he replied, using Canada's affectionate nickname.

"Then who's gonna-" Canada began, but was cut off by seemingly all the countries in the world jumping out and screaming at the top of their lungs, "SURPRISE!"

At first, Canada had absolutely no idea what to make of any of this. He looked behind him, checking to see if Hong Kong was there and this was just some kind of after-party that happened to be in his home country, but found no one there. "Wh-wha… is this… for me?" he asked, voice whisper soft. Everyone seemed to understand what he was trying to say, though.

"America, the frog, Hong Kong, and I planned everything," England replied, stepping out from the crowd, "Hong Kong brought up the idea to us, since he felt bad about forgetting your birthday, even though apparently you so kindly remembered his, and we, of course, were all for it. It's hard, you know, trying to choose which birthday party to attend every year. So from now on, we unanimously decided that you and Hong Kong are just going to have one giant party; like this."

Canada's eyes widened. "R-really? That's amazing! But when did you have time to set all this up? It's so… extravagant!"

"We all came here right after the meeting and started setting up. Thankfully, America remembered how to get here from all those camping trips years ago, or we would have had to go by your house and ask, which you have been quite an awkward conversation for everyone…"

"Yeah dude, you're so lucky the hero was there to help!" America yelled.

"You git! Don't take full credit for this! All you did was lead us here and carry some boxes! I had to plan the whole thing out with that frog and Hong Kong!" England exclaimed, mood turning from happy to sour in the blink of an eye.

"But if I hadn't been carrying all that heavy stuff, you couldn't have accomplished anything!" America pointed out.

"I could very well have done this by myself, you…" Canada tuned out their argument, instead opting to look around at the party, which was now finally starting to get going. The amps continued to blare out a mix of Canadian and Chinese music, with the occasional foreign request every once in a while. Countries from all over the world were talking and laughing like they didn't have any political obligations, ties, or anything. As he set off to find and thank Hong Kong, he smiled and realized that even though in a few days this would happen all over again in an even more extravagant way, tonight wasn't for America, it was for him; him and Hong Kong. And even though he'd never pictured sharing his birthday like this, he found he couldn't have been happier…

* * *

**Hi~! It's applechan53! So I know I kind of dropped off the face of the Earth recently, but in my defense I've been SUPER busy lately.**

**Alright, so now I'm going to explain how this works. This is story part one of three. I haven't written the other two yet, though. What I'm planning on is having them all build off of each other, so the next one will be this story from Hong Kong's point of view, and the last one will be a few days later at America's party.**

**I would love to write more, but it's so late right now and I need sleep for Canada Day/ Hong Kong's hand-over anniversary, so I hope you enjoy!**


	2. Hong Kong

The day of Hong Kong's birthday started bright and early, with China and South Korea waking up the whole house with a screaming match. Apparently, the Korean nation had decided to claim China's panda for himself, and China had snapped. Unfortunately, this meant the rest of the Asian family were forced to wake up much too early for any of their liking.

Finally, once Japan finally managed to calm the panda-loving country down and everyone was ready to go, they all piled into a cab that would take them from their US-government-provided house to the meeting in downtown Washington D.C.

All through the meeting, Hong Kong didn't even attempt to pay attention. It's not like his presence at these World Meetings really counted for anything, since he wasn't completely his own country anyway.

It took forever, but the meeting eventually ended. It was all pretty much a discussion/argument about America's party, so he didn't miss much. _Okay, you have to invite them now, _he thought to himself, standing up. "Before everyone leaves," he said, "my birthday party is tonight, and you're all invited to attend."

"Sure thing, dude!"

"W-wouldn't miss it, Hong Kong."

"I do not like that the_ Angleterre_ is coming, but I will be there anyway."

"I can use this to get closer to China, da? My subordinates and I will attend."

"Ukraine and I will go, but only because I want to be near my brother."

"I was always planning on going, aru!"

"Ve~! Germany, Romano, and I will be there!"

"Italy! Don't just decide things for yourself! But yes, I will be coming. As will mein Bruder."

"Austria and I will be there. Should I wear a dress?"

"My little brother and I will be there."

"Yeah… but is it fine if I leave Mr. Puffin at home?"

"Ice! You should bring him out more! And Norge, you need to- blgaarghlrhgsalkdf…"

"Su-san and I will be there!"

"The wonderful Principality of Sealand will certainly be there!"

"Big Brother and I will go. But he says he needs to be able to take his guns…"

"Of course me and the rest of the Asians will be coming, da ze!"

"Seborga and I'll be there. So will Australia!"

On and on, the countries affirmed their attendance, just as they usually did. Hong Kong was really starting to wonder why he even bothered having a party in the first place, if he already knew everyone would come regardless of whether or not they actually liked him. It was just a little depressing to him; never being sure if the other countries approved of him or not. But there was nothing to be done about it, so… "Great. I'll see you tonight."

On his way out the door, a man ran up to him from inside the meeting hall. _Who is this? _he wondered, _How'd he get in the meeting room?_

"H-Hello," the man whispered. His voice was almost inaudible over the buzz of people leaving the building. "H-Happy birthday."

"Oh…" Hong Kong mumbled, slightly caught off guard. "Thank you-" He then realized he had absolutely no idea exactly who it was he was thanking.

"Canada," the man supplied, sounding a little disappointed, but understanding.

"Right. Thank you, Canada," he restated; slightly embarrassed. In an attempt to change the subject, he asked, "Will you be at my party tonight?"

The blonde shook his head and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, I can't. I'm… very busy right now. But I'm sure I'll be missing an amazing time. Anyway…" Hong Kong watched with some curiosity as the Canadian turned and dug around a bit in a giant tote bag before pulling out a large box, "Here's your present."

"Thanks," Hong Kong mumbled, taking the box. It was pretty heavy, and made a slight clanking sound when he moved it. Vaguely, he wondered what might be inside.

"I hope this will make up for my absence at your party tonight," Canada said sincerely.

"Yes, definitely," Hong Kong assured him, "Hey, will I see you at America's party on the fourth?"

The blonde chuckled. "Most likely, considering he's my brother and would never let me miss it for anything."

"Really?" Hong Kong asked, surprised, "I didn't know America had a brother… well, have a good day. I'll see you on the fourth."

He walked away then, thinking the conversation was over, but very faintly, just before he was out of earshot, he heard Canada say, "… if you still remember me by then."

"Huh?" he asked, thinking he might have heard incorrectly, but the blonde was already gone.

Later that day, Hong Kong sat up in his room, staring at his new firework lamp. _This will help a lot more than that old creepy one I had_, he thought to himself. Ever since he was a kid, he'd suffered from a horrible fear of the dark, and the ancient paper lamp he had before only served to elongate shadows and enhance creepiness.

He wanted to thank Canada for giving him such a useful present, but unfortunately the nation was the only one not going to his party. "Canada… Canada… that name rings a bell. Where have I heard that before?" Curious as to the answer of said question, he pulled out his laptop and looked it up.

"Canada… oh. _That's _what the big area of land above America is called. Hm. Seems like a nice place… wait, what? His birthday is today, too?" He slammed the screen shut. "That's not good…"

After a heated internal battle that lasted around half an hour, Hong Kong finally picked up the phone and dialed the number he never thought he'd have to enter again. He would have deleted it from his mind all together, if he hadn't wanted to make sure he could ignore said person's phone calls. But, unfortunately, he was the only one Hong Kong knew who could help him. "Hello?" the voice asked from the other line. The brunette almost hung up at the sound.

"Hey England? It's me, Hong Kong," he said, beating himself up mentally.

"Hong Kong? Why're you-" England started.

"It's not because I want to. I have to talk to you about Canada," he said.

"… who? Oh, right. Don't worry, I go to his parties quite often. I'll be coming to yours this year," England said, "But why do you care?"

"Actually, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you know if anyone else knows it's his birthday?"

"… I think the frog… and America might remember this year. I can never tell what goes on in that man's head."

"I see," Hong Kong mumbled, "Well Canada got me a birthday present, and now I feel horrible for taking it."

"He remembered your birthday in advance? That's so typical of him. I wouldn't think anything of it; it's in Canada's nature to be polite and remember things like tha-"

"But I feel bad anyway. I don't want to celebrate my birthday knowing that he's probably just sitting at home alone. That's why I'm calling you."

"What do you want me to do about it? And what makes you think I'd help you, anyway?"

"Because you aren't helping me, you're helping Canada."

"…fine. What are you planning?"

"Is there anywhere we could throw a party near Canada's house?"

"I think there's somewhere… I used to take America and Canada when they were both really little and that frog had me babysit while he went and did… other things. But apparently America's dragged the poor guy out there more than once over the past few decades, so I could ask him… he should know how to get there."

"Perfect. Also… can you call every else…? I don't have…"

"… their phone numbers? Yeah, I can call them. But just remember, I'm doing this for Canada, not you. This is my birthday present to him."

"Yeah whatever. I couldn't care less." With that, he hung up and went downstairs to tell the others…

"We're going to Canada," he said, walking into the kitchen, where China was making something that smelled amazing in his wok.

"WH-WHAT?!" the older nation exclaimed, "But your party… wait, what's Canada?"

"He's the country right above America. It's his birthday, too. So we're heading over there, too… I, uh, had to ask England to help me with the party, though…"

"You talked to that English jerk? Why? I thought you hated him!" China said.

"I do. But he's the only one I had the number of who knew who Canada was, so…"

"I see… well, I suppose we can go. Let me just go get everyone else… you're lucky we didn't decide to leave already, or I would have had to say no."

"Great. I should probably go talk to America now, since he's apparently the only one who knows where the party's taking place."

"Fine. We'll meet you at his house," China said, walking upstairs to wake up the others, who were all sleeping off their boredom…

Once Hong Kong reached America's house, he stood outside the door for what felt like an eternity before the energetic country finally answered. "Hey Hong Kong! What's up?" he said, moving aside so the brunette could enter.

"I'm here about Canada," he replied bluntly.

"Canada… what about 'im?" America asked.

"It's his birthday today, and England is helping me help Canada by throwing a party."

"Oh yeah! Alright, so why'd you come to me?"

"He said there's a place where you used to camp as a kid…? Somewhere near Canada's house. He said you would probably remember where it was."

"Yeah, I remember. Is that where you wanna throw this thing?"

"Yes. So I was hoping once England got all the nations together you could lead them there."

"Sure thing, dude! It's a short flight to Canada's place from here, so let me call Iggy and tell him to have everyone come to the airport…" He pulled out his phone and dialed the number. "Hey, Iggy?" "I-ggy. I'll call you whatever I want! Anyway, Hong Kong's here. Yeah, he told me about it. Mm-hm, I know you're not doing this for him. Geez, you're such a tsundere sometimes! Ask Japan. Anyway, take everybody to the airport, 'kay? Yeah, I'll meet you there. Wait- did they all bring food? Okay then… you come with France- I know you don't want to!- just… come with France, and give them the directions to that world market place. What? A party needs food! DO YOU THINK _I_ WANTTO HAVE FRANCE THERE? It's not _my _fault he's the only one who brought food. Look, dude, you're seriously wasting time now. Just… yeah, yeah, you're the _mature _one; okay. Just… I'M HANGING UP NOW SO JUST GET TO THE AIRPORT!" He jammed his finger on the end button and put away the phone. "Hey, sorry about that. Iggy's throwing a fit 'cause he doesn't want to be on a plane with Francey-pants. Not that I blame him, but we don't really have time to argue, do we?"

"Alright then, do we go to the airport now?" Hong Kong asked.

America nodded. "We're taking my private jet, since I'm stopping at McDonald's to pick up burgers and stuff for the party. Do you have anything you need to get?"

The brunette shook his head. "China will know what to get for me at that 'world market' you were talking about."

"Okay, dude, let's go!" America yelled, sprinting out to his vintage Corvette.

"Right…"

Three McDonald's restaurants later, the car was packed to the brim with hamburgers, fries, and other American favorites. "Dude, I can't believe how few hamburgers those restaurants keep stocked!" America griped.

"If the consumers are anything like you, I can't believe it, either…" Hong Kong mumbled, face pressed against the glass window to keep the careful balance of what he'd dubbed the "Leaning Tower of Grease" that was, unfortunately, getting dangerously close to dripping on his face…

"We're here, dude," America told him, stepping out of the car.

"That would mean more to me if I felt I could easily get out of here," Hong Kong grumbled.

"Oh right! Well let me just take those then!" he conveniently pulled out a plethora of different tote bags featuring common American attractions from under the driver's seat and started stuffing them with burgers. It took a few minutes to get Hong Kong unstuck, and quite a few more to completely get all the food out of the car.

"Alright! Now we find the plane!" America said, blue eyes searching through the rows and rows of aircraft.

"Why're there so many?" Hong Kong asked.

This is where all the countries' planes go while they're in my home. Mine should be right up front… oh! Here it is!" he exclaimed, pointing to the largest one of the whole lot.

"How am I not surprised…?" Hong Kong muttered, staring at the jet. It was decorated in red and white stripes, with deep blue stars all over. On one side, an incredibly lifelike bald eagle painting appeared to fly with the mechanical monstrosity, and on the other the words "With liberty and justice for all" were written in bold black cursive, looking like something straight out of the original Constitution. But the most telling part was none of these things; it was the nose of the plane, on which a giant hamburger was painted.

"Isn't it awesome?! _So _much better than Japan's Pokemon plan!" America exclaimed, laughing loudly. Hong Kong resented that, as Japan had gotten him hooked on the anime- along with the rest of the Asian family- but said nothing. "Alright dude, now we just wait for Iggy to-"

"America, what were you bloody thinking?!" came a scream. "I should refuse to ride in such a hideous airplane!"

"Dude, this plane is freaking beautiful! Where's Francey-pants?" America replied.

"The frog is coming… if he can still stand," England said.

"What'd you do to him?" America asked.

"I did nothing… except lightly bump him with my car when he decided to laugh at it," England admitted.

"Did he break any bones?"

"No."

"Is he in pain?"

"Definitely."

"Good. Let's go."

Everyone piled in the plane, France limping in right at the last second, and the ride to Canada began…

The ride to Canada contained very few arguments, as did the car ride to the site of the party. But the moment they exited the vehicle and looked out over the empty field, the fighting began. "Angleterre, what were you thinking? There is nothing here to work with!" France exclaimed.

"I'll go buy anything we need, frog, so shut up!" was England's response.

"DUDE WE TOTALLY NEED AMPS!" America exclaimed.

"Those are too loud!" England argued.

"But Iggy!"

"We aren't all obnoxious like you!"

"But amps aren't obnoxious, and how else are we gonna hear the music all over this place?"

"We don't need music!"

"Music is, like, a partying _necessity_!"

"You have a very skewed view of reality."

"Hey guys…" Hong Kong interrupted, "I think America's right. We do need music. And tables, chairs, plenty of Christmas lights, table skirts, plastic plates and silverware, a good soundtrack, one of those portable bar things, and plenty of alcohol."

"Dude, that sounds perfect!" America exclaimed. "Give Iggy a list!"

"Why me you git?" England protested.

"Because you said you'd buy anything we needed, and we need all that stuff," America pointed out.

"… fine. Hong Kong, what was that again?" he asked, pulling up the notes app on his phone. The brunette repeated the list.

After that, things smoothed out a bit, and the rest of the party preparations went fairly smoothly.

Finally, at around 9:30-10:00, all the last-minute decorations were in place, and America ran the half-mile or so to Canada's house, stopping him just outside the edge of the field. Then, Hong Kong watched as nation after nation piled in through the trees, setting food and gifts for him and Canada before finding a place to hide. The whole process took about 15 minutes, and he started to worry. What if Canada assumed this was all just a prank and left? He wasn't within eyesight of the shy nation, so there was no way to tell.

But it soon became obvious there was nothing to fear when, from his hiding spot behind a tree, he saw America come back, his brother in tow. "… aren't planning on eating this all by yourself, are you?" he heard faintly.

"No, Mattie, I'm not," America said. Hong Kong figured that must be a nickname or something. America was known to come up with such things.

"Then who's gonna…" Canada's words were cut off as every country in the world simultaneously jumped out and screamed "SURPRISE!"

After watching the initial reaction, Hing Kong didn't bother to listen in on England's explanation of the day's events after that, instead opting to blend in with the crowd and hover near a table of Chinese food, picking up random foods.

"I hope this makes up for forgetting your birthday," he mumbled quietly.

"Definitely!" a voice whisper-exclaimed behind him, making him jump, "Thank you so much for this," Canada said.

"Anytime," Hong Kong said, a small smile gracing his features. He felt he could finally celebrate his birthday guilt-free…

* * *

**Hi! It's applechan53!**

**I am SO, SO, SO SORRY this is so late! I ended up being super busy yesterday and today, and I literally JUST finished writing this!**

**But here's the good news I'm bribing you with: AMERICA AND RUSSIA'S MAWARU CHIKYUU RONDOS ARE OFFICIALLY OUT! THE FULL VERSIONS! I already downloaded America's onto my computer, and am still searching for Russia's (you guys should feel very lucky that I decided this was more important -_-).**

**Okay... I'll try not to make America's late, but I think I might be busy again tomorrow... I'm not sure yet. Anyway, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HONG KONG!**


	3. America

America sat gripping the edges of his seat, resisting the urge to jump up and down with excitement. Today was the day; the Fourth of July; his birthday. He'd spent months preparing for the event. Ever since Easter finished up and all the after-holiday sale candy was sold (a good lot of it to him), it was all he could think about.

In his opinion, celebrating his birth was the best part of being a country, because for them it meant not only having a party with your friends and family (if they had any), but also enjoying all the parties of every one of their people. He couldn't tell you how many small-town fireworks displays he'd witnessed, along with big-city parades and countless neighborhood barbeques. But each experience was unique; it was like he celebrated a different way every year.

Of course, then there was also his annual birthday party, which all the nations were always invited to. Part of being a hero is making sure no one feels left out, right? So, even the nations he didn't always get along with, like Germany during WWII or Russia during the Cold War, always got invited. Of course, this would obviously be a problem if it weren't for the fact that he insisted that no one who showed up could act like a nation for a single moment before, during, or directly after the party. That meant no politics, no worrying about political ties, and actually talking to people they wanted to for once instead of just who their bosses made them make friends with.

There was no reason for America to announce his party to the others; they'd been talking about it every day at the meeting for the past couple weeks, even helping him plan some of the trickier details and trying in vain to stop him from getting McDonald's to cater yet again. Everyone seemed so excited, and the atmosphere was rubbing off on America, albeit slightly against his will.

The world super-power would never admit this to anybody, but he really wasn't as secure as everyone seemed to think he was. He wanted to be a hero; he wanted people to _need _him, not tolerate him. And when everyone got excited about his party… well, he figured it should make him happy, but he wasn't. He wasn't happy at all.

But who could blame him? If everyone else insulted you 11 months out of the year, then practically worshipped you when it was time for your big birthday bash with its amazing reputation and all-around awesomeness (even Prussia said so), wouldn't you start to feel like maybe they didn't care after all about anything you said or did, just what you had to give them?

That was just the way things worked with countries, wasn't it? They could pretend for all the world to get along with you, but the second you weren't of use to them, BAM! Gone. Or at least, that was how he'd started seeing things recently. Not that he'd let on he wasn't his usual happy-go-lucky self, no, far from it. If anything, he tried a little _too _hard in his heroic duties, going so far out of the way for others sometimes his boss actually got mad.

Canada and Hong Kong's birthday party was probably the highlight of his rapidly-growing sadness. Even though he hadn't initiated it or planned much, it was great to know they couldn't have done it without him, even if England would never admit it. But America decided to just chalk that up to his tsundere qualities, to use the Japanese word.

"… America? America?" a voice asked, shocking him out of his reverie.

"Huh?" he mumbled, looking up at England, who was staring down at him with a look of chagrin, "What's up?"

England sighed. "You were spacing out again, weren't you? Ugh, never mind. I was _trying _to ask you what time you wanted us to be at your house."

"Oh, right. Um… how about 6? That's 18:00 for most of you. I should have everything set up by then," America said, "but if you're early or late, it's no big deal. I just hope you can all make it." He put on his best "I-promise-I'm-a-good-host" face, and watched with a heavy heart as all the countries quickly agreed. It would only be a matter of hours before they all hated him again, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to take it.

The meeting ended soon after that, but America made sure France, England, and Canada stayed behind. "Hey, could you guys come over and help me set up? It's a pretty big job, and I'm not sure I can get it all done…"

England raised one bushy eyebrow. "What, the hero isn't capable of setting up the party on his own?" He said "hero" like it was a curse word he wished he didn't even have to use.

"Well if you're busy I guess I can…" America amended.

"I actually am busy today. My boss says if I don't finish a certain amount of work she won't let me come." England informed him.

"Okay then," America mumbled, voice far from its usual ear-piercing volume.

"I'm sorry, Amerique, but I also have work to do," France said.

"M-me too," Canada whispered, "I'm sorry, I feel so bad. After you set up that amazing party for Hong Kong and I a few days ago…"

"No, no, it's fine! I'd rather have you finish your work and come to the party than help me set up and miss it," America told them, putting on his happiest, most polite face.

"Well that was… kind of you," England replied, "Thank you for understanding."

"No problem, Iggy. I'll see you all tonight!" he yelled, running out to his car.

Once he slid into the driver's seat of his vintage Corvette, he repeatedly hit his head against the wheel. _What are you doing? _He scolded himself mentally, _Dude, this isn't you! You're supposed to be the hero; invincible! Stupid comments aren't supposed to be enough to get you down!_ Still, the inner turmoil plagued him all the way home.

America walked into his house, threw his bomber jacket on the sofa (it was too hot for it anyway), and put on his favorite hit radio station. The music cheered him up some, as music tends to do, and he was able to set up his house without thinking too much about his problems.

Finally, 6 o'clock rolled around, and countries started showing up, bearing gifts and, in many cases, food. _Why can't these people appreciate the value of a good hamburger? _he thought, watching the fancy, exotic new foods make their way onto the buffet-style tables, crowding out his beloved sandwiches.

The party quickly got into full swing, with countries, or people, at least for today, interacting in predictable ways, with unpredictable twists. France and England struggled to find things to really get mad about that weren't related to their countries in any way, and ended up settling for an extremely heated debate on whether French or British movie productions were better. America knew they both knew his topped either one, so he didn't even bother joining in that one. He'd save his breath for another day. Greece and Turkey, while they still didn't get along very well, weren't doing so bad that Japan had to intervene with one of his fancy hand-tricks. Romano… well, he still hated Germany and Italy, or at least appeared to. His tsundere qualities kept him from changing his attitude even a little , despite what he may have been actually feeling. Prussia was still as awesome as ever; him and Denmark were sitting by the alcohol, having a competition to see who could drink the most without passing out. Normally, America would have joined them, and probably beaten them both, but Russia was also there, downing vodka by the bottle, and he really wasn't in the mood to get in the middle of that.

It took a couple hours, but eventually America started actually enjoying himself. The highlight of the evening for him was when he finally convinced England it was a good idea to drink a couple beers, and ended up with a weepy adult who seemed to want nothing more than to go around hugging people and complaining about "that dummy America" who'd "left him before he was ready". He would have been touched, if he wasn't too busy laughing hysterically from behind his own bottle of beer. (A/N I don't usually do these author-note things, but I need to tell you: there's this mini-site (IDK how to explain it, since I'm a tech idiot) on BBCA (BBC America) called "Mind the Gap", and there's an article called "How to Explain Britishness to an American". Read it when you're done with this. Seriously, it's like someone decided to describe England using the entire country as a disguise; especially at the end.)

The party lasted until about noon the following day, when the bosses started calling. One by one, the hung-over countries left America's house, giving him final congratulations on yet another birthday, America thanked them in his obnoxious American way, making sure to give them little American flags as they left (most of them would probably be burned and/or thrown away later, but he thought it was a nice touch)…

The next day, America came into the meeting hall, where everyone was back to normal. As expected, the only words people even bothered to say to him were the usual insults about his weight (from England), his personality (from China), his hamburger obsession (also England), etc. Although he tried to take them with a grain of salt, it wasn't easy in his current state of sulkiness.

As the so-called "meeting" progressed, and more and more cliché arguments and accusations were exchanged, the blonde nation actually started to lose his appetite, which worried him way more than it would a normal person. _What's wrong with me today? I'm not… I don't want to eat! I _always_ want to eat! And I'm not smiling… WHY CAN'T I SMILE?! What if I've finally become like England… they say people tend to grow up like their parents… what if I'm destined to become like that grouchy British guy?! That CAN'T happen! Who's gonna be the hero if I'm not around?_ Slowly, he sunk deeper into his thoughts, tuning out everything around him as he tried to convince himself he wasn't going to become his old caretaker.

"… AMERICA! YOU BLOODY GIT LISTEN TO ME! GERMANY HAS BEEN SCREAMING YOUR NAME FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES AND IF YOU DON'T LISTEN UP I WILL LOCK YOU IN A ROOM ALONE WITH FRANCE AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!"

"… huh?" America mumbled, looking up, "Oh hey, Iggy, when'd you get there? Sorry, I was just thinking… about some heroic things I'm gonna do later."

England's face contorted, as if he was caught off-guard. "Well… as long as you're sorry…" he muttered, sitting down.

America paled. "Did I say… oh crap. I, um, don't feel very well guys. I think I'm gonna… I'm gonna head home now. See ya later!" He ran out of the meeting room, ignoring the blank/confused stares he received from everyone in the room.

The usually happy nation sat in his car and put his head on the steering wheel for the second time in the past couple days. "What's going on? I'm the hero! Mere thoughts and ideas shouldn't be enough to depress me… not that I'm depressed… OH CRAP I'M GOING TSUNDERE NOW!" He banged his head repeatedly on the wheel, until he heard a knock on the window.

"Whaddaya want?" he mumbled, looking up.

"America, what are you _doing _out here? If you just needed to give yourself a headache, you should have stayed in the conference room!" England exclaimed, opening the door and pulling his old charge out. "Now come on. We're going back."

"No," America protested, planting his feet firmly on the asphalt, "Not right now."

"Why not? You weren't doing anything out here anyway," England retorted.

"I just… I don't want to talk to anyone right now," America mumbled softly.

Even if England hadn't actually taken care of the nation in a long time, it was pretty obvious he was upset about something. He sighed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

America looked at England in shock. "What, no sarcastic comment? You're a pretty bad tsundere," he joked with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Trust me, you don't want to hear what's bothering me."

"America," the green-eyed country stated, "I took care of you all the way through your childhood. You once slammed my bed into a wall because you were scared and I didn't wake up (A/N That's a comic I found on iFunny. It's so cute!). There is absolutely nothing you could say that would surprise me."

"Okay…" America muttered hesitantly, but he was never one to be considerate of other's feelings, so… "I'm worried I might be turning into you."

England deadpanned. "C-Come again?"

"Well I've been all depressed and angry lately, and I've even been acting a little tsundere-"

"What's-"

"Ask Japan. Anyway, It's like I can't be an optimist anymore, and I'm seriously freaked out that I'm going to turn into an angry little British person who's weak and polite and drinks tea like it's the elixir of life," America finished.

"… ouch. Don't worry, America, I doubt anyone will ever accuse you of being polite," England assured him coolly, "And I have no idea why you're so depressed after everyone just finished congratulating you on your birthday, but I'm sure you're just overthinking things. Also, as much as I hate to say this, I doubt you'll ever become weak as me, and I _highly _doubt you'll ever learn to appreciate tea and quality English cooking. So just… be annoying, yeah? Because I'm getting seriously disturbed seeing you looking all… sad."

"You really mean that, Iggy? Thanks, dude! Somehow, hearing you say I'm never going to turn into someone like you really helps! And it makes sense, too- I would probably kill myself before I'd ever 'learn to appreciate tea and quality English cooking'!" he exclaimed, mocking the elder's accent.

"Right… that's great, thanks. Just don't act all depressed like that again, because I honestly don't want the world to end just yet," England replied, tsundere personality blocking him from saying how relieved he was he'd managed to talk America off the ledge.

"Yeah, thanks. Oh! I know! To repay you, I'm taking you out for a hamburger after the meeting!"

"No, you really don't have to-"

"Come on, dude, I INSIST!" America laughed, running back into the conference room with renewed vigor.

"What have I done…?" England muttered to himself, face growing pale. This was going to be a very long year…

* * *

**Hi~! So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! Finally a birthday I can celebrate without people thinking I'm crazy! **

**So far, I drew I picture of America and colored it using only the colors red, blue, and black (with some white, too. It turned out pretty well!), worn an American flag shirt that says "United We Stand", worn an America pin (one of two), and am preparing to go make an Apple pie then go watch fireworks!**

**BTW, my friend gave me two COMPLETELY AWESOME ideas for America's birthday fanfictions, so I'm going to write those later and hopefully have them posted in the next couple days. I'm gonna call her Greece, since that's her favorite character as well as her perfect personality match. So... GREECE IS A FREAKING GENIUS YOU GUYS AND I ONLY HOPE I CAN DO JUSTICE TO HER GENIUS IDEAS!**

**Alright... I hope you all have a happy Independence Day (even if you aren't American, I still hope you have a Prussia day)!**


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